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Sunday, 14 October 2012

Nigeria & Saudi account for the bulk September OPEC Oil Output drop

Crude
oil output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell
by 390,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 31.15 million b/d in September, with Saudi
Arabia and Nigeria accounting for the bulk of the month-on-month drop. This
follows August production of 31.54 million b/d and leaves OPEC overproducing
its 30 million b/d ceiling by 1.15 million b/d.

According
to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts, Saudi
Arabia pumped an average 9.85 million b/d in September, 150,000 b/d lower than
August's 10 million b/d, a level it had maintained since May. Nigerian output
was down by 230,000 b/d at 2.05 million b/d in September from 2.28 million b/d in
August, the survey estimated.

In
Angola, maintenance helped push volumes down to 1.7 million b/d from 1.75
million b/d in August. Other smaller decreases came from Algeria, Qatar, and
the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The only countries to increase output were Iraq, whose exports climbed further
in September, and Libya. Iraqi output was estimated at 3.18 million, up 80,000
b/d from August, and Libyan output at 1.48 million b/d, up 30,000 b/d from
August.
In recent months rising Iraqi production has set a series of post-1990 records,
but the September figure of 3.18 million b/d surpasses even anything seen in
1990 and is the biggest recorded since Platts started thorough monthly surveys
of OPEC production in March 1988.
Ecuador, Kuwait and Venezuela maintained production at August levels.